TopTenz's largest sailing yachts in the world
by TopTenz/Sail-World Cruising on 18 Sep 2012
Superyachts - the top ten SW
Sail-World didn't do the counting, but www.toptenz.net!TopTenz did. It's time to recognise sailing yachts on the 'mine's bigger' scale, the longest ten yachts ever built. Not all of them are new, not all of them are fast. There are four schooners, three ketches, two sloops and, of course, the Maltese Falcon, which fits into none of those categories with its freestanding full rig.
Some have won impressive races, some have never competed in a single thing. Some of their owners are famously rich, others shrouded in secrecy...and when it gets to the top boat, there's even a disagreement about which is longer. Here they are, as profiled by www.toptenz.net!TopTenz:
10. The Creole
Specs:
Schooner
LOA -214.24 feet
Beam -30.97 feet
Draft -16.4 feet
Speed – 10 knots cruising, 14.5 knots max speed.
Built in 1926, it was struck with two pretty bad omens straight out the box: the owner died of tuberculosis, and the attempted christening (in which a bottle of champagne is smashed on the bow) took three failed tries before it succeeded.
A decade later, when it was refitted as a proper racing yacht, and managed to build quite a reputation at British regattas until the start of World War II, when it was drafted as a minehunter. She survived the war and, despite being frequently abandoned and refitted, continues sailing to this day.
9. Aglaia
Specs:
Sloop
LOA -217 feet
Beam - 33 feet
Draft -30 feet
Speed – 13 knots max speed
Completed in April of 2011, details on the ultra-modern Aglaia are still shrouded in secrecy. She was designed by Dubois Naval Architects, and features one of the largest composite rudders ever built, but not much else has been made public. She has a retractable 'daggerboard' keel, a mast that reaches 262 feet above the deck and 2,730 square meters of sail area. TopTenz reckons she should be able to do 20 knots.
8. Hetairos III
Specs:
Ketch
LOA -219 feet
Beam - 34 feet
Draft - 29.5 feet
Crew – 10
Designed by Dykstra & Partners, and built by the world-famous Baltic Yachts, Hetairos III is a bold take on the superyacht. Though modeled with classic lines, she’s actually built from the latest high-tech lightweight materials, and is the largest yacht ever built from carbon-fiber composite.
Completed just last year, she’s already participated in the 2012 Superyacht Cup, which was held just before the Summer Olympics in London.
7. Vertigo
Specs:
Ketch
LOA- 220 Feet
Beam – 41.1 Feet
Draft – 16.5 Feet
The yacht has meticulous wood work, chrome fixtures, leather furnishing and sandblasted wood floors.. She has flatscreen TVs, more computer screens than anyone would know what to do with, and even a gym.
6. Atlantic:
Specs:
Three Mast Gaff-Rigged Schooner
LOA- 227.7 Feet
Beam - 29 Feet
Draft – 16 Feet
Built in 1903 in the Townsend and Downey shipyard by William Gardner, Atlantic quickly quickly began winning regattas despite her luxurious (and heavy) interior. Her biggest claim to fame came just two years after she was built when, captained by America’s Cup winner Charlie Barr, she set the record for fastest transatlantic crossing by a mono-hull. She held this record for nearly a hundred years and, to this day, it is the longest-held speed record in the history of yachting.
On January 30th, 1982, she was broken up in a storm at Newport News Boat Harbor, Virginia. A full-size replica, commissioned by entrepreneur Ed Kastelein, was completed in June of 2010.
5. Phocea:
Specs:
Ketch
Length – 246 Feet
Beam – 31.4 Feet
Draft – 20.5 Feet
Crew – 15
Max Speed Under Sail – 18 Knots
Launched in 1976, the Phocea was the longest sailing ship in the world until 2004, when she was crushed by the current leader.
Her stocky design and numerous masts give her the kind of luxury you’ve come to expect on this list: bathtubs you can drown small countries in, and dinner tables reminiscent of the Hogwarts dining hall, are just the beginning. Featuring wood paneling and furniture by David Linley, her $17 million refit in 1997 actually won awards for being so awesome. The boat itself has never technically won anything.
4. Mirabella V
Specs:
Sloop
Length – 247 Feet
Beam – 48.6 Feet
Draft – 33 Feet
Crew – 16
Max Speed Under Sail – Over 20 knots.
We’re gonna list some basic facts here, in no particular order, about the Mirabella V:
- Her mast (the largest in the world) is twice the height of Nelson’s column in Trafalgar Square, with a compression load of 440 tons.
- She is wider than a Royal Navy Type-42 Destroyer.
- It is physically impossible for her to pass under any bridge that she can navigate to.
- She has the largest jib (foresail/genoa) ever built at 19,730 square feet. According to designer Luciana Vittoria, one of the biggest challenges was finding ropes strong enough to control it.
Despite the fact that Mirabella V is only number 4 on our last, she has a sloop rig (the largest in the world), while most boats this size spread the pressure out over several masts with multiple sails on each.
3. The Maltese Falcon
Specs:
Free Standing Full Rig
LOA – 289 Feet
Beam – 41 Feet
Most sailing yachts of any size will displace the massive pressure put on the sails through a network of steel or carbon fiber rigging. This ambitious superyacht, on the other hand, built three full-rigged free-standing masts in its place. They not only withstand huge amounts of pressure in one of the least structurally sound shapes imaginable, but can even rotate, demanding that the sails be trimmed with knobs and touch-screen computers.
The carbon-fiber masts are so big that, during construction, the owner claimed to be the second biggest purchaser of carbon fiber in the world, surpassed only by the US Air Force. When asked how much it cost to build, owner Tom Perkins got all shy and blustery and wouldn’t get anymore specific than 'between 150 and 300 million,'
2. Athena
Specs:
Gaff Rigged Schooner
LOA – 295
Beam – 40 Feet
Draft – 19 Feet
Max Speed Under Sail – 20+ knots
This boat is steered by a joystick. On-board there's a SCUBA locker with tank-filling facility, and a lazarette big enough for a decompression chamber? The chefs have one of the most complete food service facilities found on any private yacht.
1. Eos
Specs:
Three Mast Bermuda Rigged Schooner
LOA – 305 Feet
Beam - 44.2 Feet
Draft- 18 feet
Eos is an aluminum sailing ship with all the accoutrements you would expect on such a yacht, including a glass staircase in the saloon, but what's most interesting about Eos is the controversy about whether she is actually the longest. Her claim to being the longest is based on her length overall, because of her bowsprit. If you don't count bowsprits, then the Maltese Falcon wins the title. TopTenz has decided that 'bowsprits do matter', so she keeps her place in this list.
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